Organic Rooftop Farming in New York City Video

In this article there is video regarding organic rooftop farming in New York city video.

I’m a big fan of New York City. Not only is NYC the greenest place in America or the most creative recycler, New Yorkers are also among the most fervent defenders of the Constitution, if you know what I mean. Evidently, they’re also great farmers.

New York City? I can think of a thousand and one description of the Big Apple, but farming? Apparently, it’s apt. In this video, Reuters explores the prospects of an up and coming organic farming business, Brooklyn Grange, seeking to utilize the millions of square feet of unused rooftop spaces in the city and turn these into urban organic farms.

Brooklyn Grange operates a one-acre (40,000 square feet) farm on a warehouse rooftop in Queens. The building was erected in 1919 and “is built like a rock” easily accommodating the 1.2 million lbs of farm soil., according to the company’s web site.

This Queens farm grows a wide variety of plants – tomatoes (40 varietals planted), salad greens, herbs, carrots,etc. They also plant cover crops like rye and buckwheat during the winter. Although not certified as organic by the USDA, Brooklyn Grange grows its plants without using synthetic fertilizers and insecticides.

Head Farmer Ben Flanner tells Reuters how the concept started:

“Starting about two winters ago, I just started to think of what about these massive strong rooftops that are across New York City and Queens and Brooklyn? What if we can utilize this huge expanse of space that is being blasted by the sun all day long and photosynthesize and produce some agriculture that can be consumed right here in the city,as close as possible to the consumers?”

This is an interesting news item. The great part will be seeing NYC from the air. Hopefully, in 10 years time, it’ll be like a sea of green, with intercrossing black lines. Talk about cutting the carbon footprint for food (we call it foodmiles)